Tobias Whale is an
African American kingpin with
albinism, who works his way up from the rackets to head the
Metropolis branch of the
100. A school teacher named Jefferson Pierce speaks out against the 100's drug trafficking, and, as a response, they make an example of one of his students: Earl Clifford.
Joey Toledo leads his men into attacking Earl and hits him with a car. Seeking to avenge the murdered student and receiving help from his tailor friend
Peter Gambi, Pierce becomes
Black Lightning and attacks Toledo and his men. After defeating his henchmen, Toledo is grabbed by Black Lightning, who arranges for Toledo to meet him at
Garfield High School's gymnasium to inform on the 100 to him. When Black Lightning meets with Toledo,
Malcolm Merlyn also appears after being hired by Toledo to kill Black Lightning. Their fight is crashed by
Talia al Ghul and the
League of Assassins, who are after Merlyn since he left the group after failing to kill
Batman. The resulting battle ended with Toledo being killed by a League of Assassins operative. Afterwards, Pierce is so successful in avenging Earl's death that Tobias Whale is sent to jail. After breaking out of prison some months later, Whale teams up with
Syonide to distribute a new highly addictive drug. The drug's formula was supposedly in the possession of a woman named Violet Harper. Tobias sends Syonide to retrieve the formula. Unable to gain any information or find any trace of the formula, Syonide kills Violet. Violet is later revived when an Aurakle possesses her corpse and comes to be known as
Halo. After learning of Violet's resurrection, Tobias assumed that she must have memorized the formula. Since Violet had no memories from before her death, a frustrated Syonide kills her parents during the Outsiders' fight with Whale's henchmen. Whale returns in the miniseries
Gotham Underground and has moved to
Gotham City, where he is attempting to become the
Capo di tutti capi boss of bosses following the death of
Black Mask. After taking over the Galante and Odessa crime families, he ends up in a gang war with
Intergang. They buy him out and make him the
CEO of Kord Enterprises, which has become a front for Intergang's criminal activities. Tobias Whale is reintroduced following
The New 52, which rebooted DC's continuity. In the
DC Rebirth relaunch, it is revealed that this version of Tobias Whale was Whale's unnamed nephew using his identity. The real Whale is reintroduced and depicted as lacking albinism. Whale respects his nephew enough as a blood relative to kill him personally. ==Powers and abilities==